A road trip across the state.

On May 25, 2026June 8, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants, Vacation3 Comments

In mid-January Brett and I had a long weekend in Orlando. We were meeting up with some friends on Saturday night but came over early Friday afternoon and went to Disney Springs for a walk and had an early dinner there. We didn’t go to a theme park since we’ve done them so many times over the years. Disney Springs is free and a fun place to walk around and have dinner.

So many beautiful colors in January. This was before the big freeze in early February. We spent the morning at Leu Gardens. We have never been here before and it was a nice place to walk around and luckily a lot was still blooming.

This butterfly posed for me while I took this with my phone since I didn’t bring my camera on this trip.

The historic home at the gardens was built in 1888 and had 4 different owners. The last was Harry P Leu who gifted the house and gardens in 1960.

The statue shows a worker picking citrus. The 2nd owners grew citrus trees on the property after the land had been farmed for many years.

You can tour the house and it was cool to see the historic furniture. The bathrooms and kitchen had been somewhat updated and that yellow bathroom looked like it was stuck in the 60’s.

Being a tourist in my town

On April 22, 2024May 12, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, Tampa bay sights9 Comments

I finally made it to the Tampa airport to see the big flamingo statue. It’s really big and right in the middle of the airport. I was there picking up my sisters. Both were in town for a week of Florida fun. We had a busy week doing tourist things and eating a lot.

Our first stop was the Manatee Viewing Center at the electric plant. They had put in a new dock that goes half way across the channel. The electric plant seemed so big seeing it this close.

It was much better seeing the manatees close up as they swam under the dock to get to the inside of the channel. The view from the old deck (which is still there) is much farther away. Since it was late February and the water had been cold there were hundreds of manatees in the channel that stays warm from the water flowing out of the electric plant.

I was hoping to see some birds here. Last time I saw an eagle but this time I only got a turkey vulture.

After a morning watching the manatees swim by we headed into Tampa to eat lunch at the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City.

One morning we headed up to Tarpon Springs to walk along the docks and shops and get some Greek food for lunch. We ate at the famous Hellas Restaurant and then stopped in their bakery to get some desserts to take home.

One day we drove over to Orlando to go to Disney Springs for lunch. Debbie and I were hamming it up with Tigger.

On Debbie’s last day we spent the morning at Honeymoon Island looking for shells. I was tired from the week and took a break on the sand while she continued to look for shells. Somehow she fit a box of shells in her carry-on bag.

We did much more but I’ll save that for later.

A weekend with the Mouse

On September 21, 2023September 15, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation10 Comments

Brett and I drove over to Disney (not to a theme park though) in early June for a one night road trip for our 29th Anniversary. After checking into our hotel we headed over to Disney Springs to walk around a little bit and have an early dinner. I’ve only been here in the winter and it was so hot even at 5pm. After walking around for a half hour we decided to go ahead and eat early and then head back to the hotel.

Our hotel was nearby (not a Disney hotel) and we could see the fireworks from the theme parks in the distance. A nice little storm moved through at the same time and we got a great lightning show from our window.

A quick video of the fireworks (on the left) from the Magic Kingdom and the storm (on the right).

After a quick breakfast at the hotel we headed to the Disney golf course. Brett was going to play a round of golf and I was driving the golf cart (I’m not a golfer, maybe some day though but it’s fun being out and driving the course), This Mickey cart was out front at the clubhouse. It was so cute (the carts everyone uses looks like a regular cart).

There was a little bit of color along the course.

We saw a lot of raccoons along the course and they come right up to the carts. We had caught up with some guys playing ahead of us and they told us that people are feeding them. One guy said he came back to his cart from the hole and a raccoon was up in his cart digging through his snack bag. There are signs warning not to feed the wildlife but no one seems to listen anymore.

It was a beautiful morning out on the course and after a big lunch we headed back home. It was a perfect quick getaway.

An all day walk at Disney

On December 9, 2021November 30, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation3 Comments

Last year we did not make it for our annual lunch at Disney Springs so this year we couldn’t miss it. We knew it would be crazy crowded (and it was later in the day) so we got there early to walk around before lunch.The above statues are made out of Leggos and there’s always a line to get in that store.

All of Disney was decorated for Christmas this week.

After lunch we decided to try something different. We didn’t want to go to a theme park but instead hopped on a bus to a hotel and then rode the monorail to several of the nice hotels to walk around and look at the holiday decorations at each one. I didn’t really notice the decorations at the Polynesian Resort but I thought this statue above was really cool and it had beautiful orchids all around it.

We could see the Grand Floridian across the lake and decided this would be our next stop on the monorail ride.

The lobby at the Grand Floridian was beautiful. They have a large lifesize house made out of gingerbread and candy. The details were incredible. There were people standing in the back of the house selling gingerbread cookies. That’s how big it was.

All of the details at this hotel are perfect. Down to the wreaths hanging in the lobby.

We headed back to our car at Disney Springs and stopped at a french pastry shop to get some desserts to take home.

After a long day of walking around, we got back into Tampa as the sun was going down behind the buildings downtown. My sister snapped this with my phone. I love the reflection on the hood.

Not happening this year

On December 22, 2020December 22, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights2 Comments

These are some of the shots from last year’s Thanksgiving weekend visit to Disney Springs. It was our 3rd annual lunch at the Springs with my sisters and we had a perfect day last year. This year we all did what we were suppose to do and stayed at home. They didn’t get to come visit this year so next year we’ll have to make up for lost time.

Above are some of the Christmas trees we saw around town last year including the manatee statue waving in front of the tree.

I hope everyone is having a good Christmas in spite of the things that are going on. Are you staying at home instead of visiting relatives? If it’s warm Brett and I might spend the day at the beach (if it’s not closed) just to get outside. Although, even if it’s cold we might still go. Nothing like a long walk on the beach all bundled up when it’s cold. Below are some old pictures I found of my family being bundled on the beach. The first is from the early 70’s of my mom and two sisters walking on Clearwater beach. The 2nd was more recent (early 90’s) of my sister and I goofing around on the the beach. Both were on Christmas day.

Merry Christmas from Disney Springs

On December 24, 2018December 24, 2018 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights1 Comment

Thanksgiving weekend my sisters and I headed over to Disney Springs to have an early lunch and walk around. Disney Springs is a shopping and dining area with activities and events. It’s basically a Disney park without rides and you don’t have to pay to get in. We got there early in the morning and left early in the afternoon. By the time we left it was so crowded you could barely walk. It was a fun way to get into the Christmas spirit.

I realized later that you could see my reflection in the window and my sister standing next to me.

We stopped at the bakery on the way out to get deserts to take home.

Merry Christmas to everyone and thanks for stopping by my blog during the year!

Our World Tuesday Graphic image-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

Mickey says “Merry Christmas”

On December 25, 2017December 25, 2017 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation3 Comments

I spent the rainy day after Thanksgiving at Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney) with my sisters who were visiting for the week. We ate lunch at one of the restaurants there and then walked around for a while peeking in the shops and soaking up the Disney “Holiday style” fun. It was drizzling when we first got there but stopped after we ate lunch. The dark clouds stayed all morning.

Our World Tuesday Graphic image-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

It wouldn’t be November without a trip to Disney

On November 24, 2016November 24, 2016 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation3 Comments

We always wait until school is back in and the weather has cooled off a little bit. Instead of going to a Disney theme park this year, we decided to spend a few hours at Disney Springs (formerly known as Downtown Disney). It’s almost as big as a theme park but without the rides. It’s a shopping and dining theme park. We got there Saturday afternoon and spend a few hours walking around, looking in a few shops and people watching. We had a great Italian dinner and then headed back to our hotel. It was extremely crowded but fun. I was traveling light so I took all of these pictures with my Iphone.

The Christmas decorations were just starting to go up. The little details are amazing.

The sky was beautiful as the sun was going down. Yes, that’s a car floating in the lake. You can get in a car that drives down the driveway and then floats into the lake.